The push for increased racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in philanthropy is at least a half-century old, with roots in the civil-rights movement. Yet The Chronicle’s analysis of boards at the 20 largest foundations with national reach suggests that considerable work lies ahead.
Whites holds 72 percent of 232 positions on these boards, while men account for 63 percent of trustees. At least three of the 20 grant makers have no people of color on their boards: Gates, Helmsley, and Moore (Some groups declined to provide demographic data on trustees, and The Chronicle was not able to determine the race of two board members.) Women make up less than a third of trustees at nine of the organizations.
The numbers disappoint champions of diversity. “These are the largest and most professionalized philanthropies — it’s simply not acceptable to be all white,” says Aaron Dorfman, president of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.
“It shows how little progress we’ve made,” says philanthropy historian Stanley Katz.
Advocates for greater board diversity say recent years have seen increased focus on the idea. Formal efforts to bring about change have drawn attention to the matter, particularly through collecting and publishing data on the demographics of foundation employees and boards.
Our review shows that the roster of trustees governing the wealthiest U.S. grant makers looks little like America when it comes to class, race, and gender. The package includes data on 20 foundations, expert commentary, and steps boards can take to become more diverse and inclusive.
“We have a really strong feeling that you can’t work on what you can’t measure,” says Jasmine Marrow, director of nonprofit strategy for GuideStar.
In 2013, GuideStar and D5, a coalition of grant makers promoting diversity in philanthropy, jointly created a means for nonprofits and foundations to report data about staff and board demographics through their GuideStar profiles. Some 9,000 groups are participating, including more than 600 foundations.
Of the 20 foundations in The Chronicle’s analysis, seven have contributed their data to the project. People of color make up the majority of trustees at three foundations in the analysis: Ford, Kellogg, and Rockefeller.
“The optimist in me says things are getting better,” says Robert Ross, head of the California Endowment and a co-chairman of D5. “It sounds like things are tilting in the right direction.”
Vincent Robinson, founder of the 360 Group, an executive-search firm, says that since the election, more foundations are seeking help to build more diverse boards. “We’re seeing more foundations who say, ‘We need more women, more people of color, more LGBT folks, more people from different socioeconomic classes who can inform our work.’ "
Change may be particularly slow for foundation boards, which often turn over at a glacial pace because of family seats or lengthy terms for trustees.
Some diversity advocates have been encouraged by the recent hires of foundation chief executives who are not white men. These include Ford’s Darren Walker, a gay black man from Texas, and Kellogg’s La June Montgomery Tabron, an African-American woman raised in Detroit.
Mr. Walker, however, cautions that progress can be slow even when a person who seems to reflect that progress becomes CEO. After an organization hires an African-American woman as president or a Latino or a gay man, it might declare, “Touchdown. We’ve crossed the finish line,” he says.
“In fact, it’s a journey. You never slow down, and you never declare victory.”
Diversity Benchmarks
Here’s how the foundation boards in our analysis break down by race and gender compared with other select groups.
